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Jaina Perspective in Philosophy and Religion
cutting the knot for self-realisation.1 But self-realisation requires self-concentration or Dhyana2 for our mind is always restless. Like the two divisions of Yoga according to Patanjali, the Jainas also divide into five stages such as Practice of Spiritual life ( Adhyatma ), Repeated Practice (Bhavanā), Equanimity (Samatā ), Final Annihilation of Residual Karmas (Vṛtti Sankṣaya) and Concentration (Dhyana ).3 Thus concentration is the immediate cause of liberation and hence so much emphasis is laid down by the Jainas upon this concept of Yoga.
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(6) The Doctrine of Lesyas or Colorations of the Embodied Souls
The association of the soul with Karma is beginningless. The soul when associated with Karma forms the Subtle Body (Karma Śarīra) comparable to subtle bodies of Saṁkhya (Linga-Sarira 4 and Vedanta (Sūkṣma Sarira ).5 The subtle Karmic matter in the soul throws a reflex producing certain colorations about the souls. This is the Leśya. Since the soul is colourless, hence all colorations concern only the embodied souls which are connected with the matter. The passions determine the nature of the colorations since the infinite power and energy of the soul is circumscribed by the power obscuring Karma being defiled by the passions. The delimited energy as determined by coloration is Yoga or
1. Pujyapada: Samadhi Tantra (Ed. & Hindi trans. by Jugal Kishore Mukhtar ), Vir Seva Mandir, Sarsawa, 1939.
2. Uma Swāmī : Ibid.
3. Haribhadra Yoga-Bindu, Jaina Grantha Sabha, Ahmedabad, Series No. 25, 1940.
4. Isvarakṛşna: Samkhya-Karika (Ed. and English trans. by S. S. Shastri ), Madras, 1948.
Prakasaka
:
5. Sadananda Vedanta-sāra (Ed. & English trans. Nikhilananda), Advaita Ashrma, Almora, 1949.
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